In Your Eyes
by Vethrid
Summary: Beastmaster’s latest plans require Xelloss to drive Lina out of her mind. Overall LG with some AZ. Rated M for nastiness in upcoming chapters.
1. Prologue

Prologue

It had been almost two years to the day since the incident with Darkstar and Valgaav when Amelia requested Lina and Gourry's presence in Seyruun. The two travellers immediately began their journey to the city and arrived less than a week later, their pockets fattened considerably by a rather well established bandit gang they had happened to encounter on the way.

Now, they sat in the princess's private sitting room, catching up on all the news they had missed out on in the year since they had last visited.  
Amelia sat with her arm looped around Zelgadis's waist. The two were engaged, and due to be married in just over a year's time, on the day of Amelia's coronation, Lina learnt.

"Well, it's about time you two settled on a date!" She had exclaimed "It's been six damn months since you decided that marriage was actually a good idea!"

"And what about you and Mister Gourry?" Amelia asked, casually, tilting her head slightly to see if she could catch a glimpse of anything shiny adorning Lina's hand "Any news?"

"Oh, the usual - we've been travelling, doing our civic duty to clear the roads of nasty, dirty bandit gangs. Nothing new, really." Lina's voice was chirpy.

"I don't think that was actually what Amelia meant, Lina." Zel's tone was amused, and distinctly sarcastic. Lina blushed and changed the subject "I have no idea what you're talking about, Zel. Which brings me neatly around to the question of why you asked us here, Amelia."

"What! How on earth does that bring you to … " Zel began, annoyed at Lina's characteristic dodge, but Amelia quieted him with a firm hand on his arm.

"Well, you see, after my coronation I'll be primarily tied down to Seyruun, apart from official diplomatic visits. I want to go adventuring one last time – take to the road and be free again, fighting to spread justice and honour among the people of the land!"

She looked down at Lina from her perch, standing on the arm of the plush velvet sofa where her brief foray into a justice speech had taken her "And I want you, Miss Lina and Mister Gourry, to accompany me!" Smiling warmly, she added, "If you'd like to, of course. Otherwise Zelgadis and I will go by ourselves."

Lina grinned at the princess and turned to her travelling partner "What do you think, Gourry? Have them join us, just like good ol' times?"

Gourry's clear blue eyes met her burning red ones and, as always, she felt her heart involuntarily flutter in her chest, just as it did every time he looked at her. 'Gods,' she thought 'It's been five years! You'd have thought I'd be used to it by now!'

She realised that Gourry was speaking, "… better. Don't you think, Lina?"

"Um—" she had the decency to look embarrassed "What was that, Gourry? My mind must have … wandered."

Zel looked sideways at her "He _said_ that he thinks if we joined you, you'd be able to stay in nicer inns and sleep and eat better."

"Ah!" Lina nodded, "Yes. Very good point, Jellyfish." 'Not to mention –' she added silently to herself 'They might ease the tension …' She looked over at Amelia again "I assume the House of Seyruun will be picking up the tab?"

"Well … uh …" The princess was rightfully nervous "I suppose so …"

"GREAT!" Lina said, enthusiastically "It'll be just like old times!"

"Mmm," Gourry looked thoughtful "If it's exactly like old times, doesn't that mean that another dark lord or demon will try and destroy the world or kill us? I wouldn't like that, Lina …"

Lina snorted "If anyone or anything was planning to take over the world, or kill us or whatever, they'd have done it by now! Why would they wait until we'd all got back together in a group again when we've been in easily defeatable portions for the last two years. Everything'll be just fine, guys. We have nothing to worry about …"

Miles away, in a place not quite of this world, a pair of mocking amethyst eyes shone through a heavy haze of cigarette smoke. Kneeling reverently, Xelloss listened intently to his Lady Beastmaster's latest set of orders and smiled. Oh, but this would be _fun_...

Author's Note:

Okay. There we have it, the prologue. As I said before, this is going to get nasty, and will eventually deal with rape and the aftermath. Should eventually have a happy ending, but I can't make any promises – the story's in control here, not me. Although the way it's looking at the moment, this is going to be LONG …  
Overall, this is a Lina/Gourry fic. I wouldn't have it any other way. There'll be Ame/Zel in there, too, but I'm focussing on the L/G pairing, because I love it!

If you review, you'll make my month and I'll adore you forever, so please, do!

Vethrid


	2. 1: More Than This

-- Chapter One -- More Than This

_I woke up and the world outside was dark_

_All so quiet before the dawn_

_Opened up the door and walked outside_

_The ground was cold._

_I walked until I couldn't walk anymore_

_To a place I'd never been_

_There was something stirring in the air_

_In front of me, I could see_

_More than this._

_Lyrics - Peter Gabriel – More Than This_

At Lina's behest, the small group of adventurers remained in Seyruun for the rest of the week, giving her and Gourry plenty of time to establish that the food in the palace was still as good as the last time they had visited. This they re-established frequently, and on a regular basis. The palace kitchen staff was hard-pressed to keep up with the ravenous pair, although the staff consisted of some of the most skilled chefs in the land. Every few hours, the massive vaulted dining hall echoed with Lina's yell of "Food!" and numerous palace servants would swarm across the grand slate flagstones, congregating around the long oak tables and filling them with enough food to feed a small army. When the last of the serving staff departed, the swordsman and the sorceress would swoop on the repast with all the enthusiasm (and all the table manners) of two starving vultures.

"I think they're actually eating more now than they were the last time we saw them. I never thought that could be possible …" Amelia sighed, watching the gluttonous twosome from the shadows in an arched doorway on the far side of the dining hall. Her fiancé, standing behind her, slid his stony arms around her slender waist, leaning down to rest his chin lightly on her shoulder.

"I think they're using food as a substitute for all the other urges they're too scared to act on." Zelgadiss observed, "Look at them – they're blatantly lusting after each other— um," Amelia frowned at him and he cleared his throat, "—lusting after each other in a completely innocent and pure way, of course …" Shaking his head, he continued. It needed to be said – if Amelia understood the situation between their two former travelling companions, it would make things considerably easier for him on the upcoming journey "And I know that Lina at least isn't getting any sort of release. Gourry, on the other hand …"

"What do you … Ohhh!" Amelia gasped and a dark blush spread across her cheeks as she realised what Zelgadiss meant. "Are you implying that Mister Gourry thinks of Lina and …" The young princess, although no longer a virgin thanks to Zelgadiss, was still innocent enough not to be able to produce a word for what 'Mister Gourry' was doing alone whilst thinking of Lina. Her jaw worked wordlessly as her mind filled with unwitting mental images.

Her fiancé nipped her ear gently with his sharp teeth, "Whilst Gourry is one of the nicest people I have ever met, and although he can miss the point every now and then, he is still, undeniably, a man. Believe me, he thinks of her. Lina, however …"

Amelia shook her head firmly. If there was one thing she was ever sure of, it was that the young redheaded sorceress was shy – and, dare she call Lina innocent – enough not to have ever touched herself. Not in a deliberately sexual way, anyway. "Lina wouldn't do that. It's not the sort of thing she does. Ever."

"Which is one reason why she eats so much. She's replacing one base desire with another. So is Gourry. And that, my Amé, is why they're always eating more than they did the previous time we see them." He stared across at the food massacre that was in progress at the other end of the dining hall – a bowl of potatoes had just met its messy doom, and the sole remaining survivor was being snatched back and forth between the battle's two perpetrators. Eventually, Lina managed to restrain his hands for long enough to grab it between her teeth and Gourry snagged her around her waist, pulling her up to him so that her feet hung at least a foot off the floor and reached his head down to neatly bite off half the potato, millimetres from her lips. He remained where he was for a minute, chewing. Lina, impatient and hungry for more food, wrapped her lean legs around his waist and leant backwards in a perfect, feline arch, snatching a seasoned chicken drumstick from the table.

If anyone had walked in on them at that very moment, there would have been questions to answer. Very difficult questions indeed. Amelia gaped at them, but Zelgadiss merely looked smug. "I told you so. They may not realise it, but eating for them has transformed into a pleasure of an entirely different kind."

"How did I not notice it had become so … sexual?" Amelia was still gaping, "Come to think about it, how can they not notice?" she looked at Lina, then Gourry, and then finally up at Zelgadiss.

The chimera nodded towards the pair. "Gourry realises it. Look at his face."   
Gourry had stopped chewing abruptly and his face was twisted to one side in a look of intense concentration. He swallowed slowly, and from where she was standing, Amelia could see his hands twitching; his fingers tightening around Lina's slender waist, and the expressions crossing his face let Amelia know immediately what his thoughts had flown to. The look on his face was that of a very desperate, suddenly very aroused man who wanted nothing more than to pin a certain petite sorceress to the floor and ravage her. He also looked like a man who knew that this could never happen.

Abruptly, he let go of her waist. Lina, unprepared for this, plummeted to the slate floor with a squeak of surprise, chicken drumstick still clutched in her hand.   
Frowning, she growled up at him from her uncomfortable position on the floor. "Gourry …" Her tone of voice was dangerous, and hinted at the high inevitability of her blonde-haired partner meeting with a fireball in the very near future unless a good explanation was forthcoming.

Said blonde partner was standing gaping at her, trying desperately to think of an excuse using a brain deprived of considerable amounts of blood – blood that had been relocated to other parts of his anatomy which were becoming increasingly difficult to conceal. He had to get out of here – fast! "Uh – Sorry … Lina, I need – umm – I … bathroom." And with that he escaped the room by the door that led to the guest wing. Lina shrugged and resumed eating just as voraciously as she had been before.

"She has no idea, does she? What she does to him, I mean." Amelia turned to Zelgadiss and continued their conversation as they walked away together down the ornate corridor.

"She has no idea, no. She knows to a point what he does to her – she knows how he makes her feel, she just doesn't know how to handle it. Gourry, on the other hand, does."

Amelia blushed as she realised the significance of this comment.

"I'll never look at them the same way again."  
"Mmm, no - I never have. But I will admit, I find them to be a source of great amusement. Now that I have you, of course." He leant down and kissed his wife-to-be's cheek tenderly.

"I can't get that image out of my head …" Amelia complained as they walked away, leaving Lina alone to finish her repast unobserved. Zel glanced down at her "What image?"  
Amelia's face flushed darkly "Well, uh – don't get the wrong idea, but … Gourry. I guess it's just so strange! It never even crossed my mind before that he might –"

Zel gave her a wry look. "Should I be jealous? Listen, Amelia – Gourry is a man. All men masturbate, especially when they're constantly around someone they're as attracted to as Gourry is to Lina." The chimera looked smugly satisfied as Amelia's blush intensified. He wondered if he could get her to blush any more, and was just about to open his mouth when the princess spoke. "Did you, Zel?"

The chimera looked at her questioningly. "Did I what?"

It was Amelia's turn to look wry "Did you masturbate, Zelgadiss dear? Before we realised we loved each other?"

"Amelia!"

Zelgadiss's cry of indignation and embarrassment caused Lina to look up briefly from the roast pork joint she had her face buried in before shrugging and returning to her meal. She failed to notice a pair of intense blue eyes watching her longingly from the doorway Gourry had exited from previously.

As Lina stuffed the last morsel of food into her face and swallowed contentedly, she leant back in the elaborately carved dining chair and stretched, arching her back and raising her arms above her head, a low moan of satisfaction escaping her lips. She also failed to notice the long, throaty sigh the figure watching her let out at her movement, his eyes wandering her body. Groaning, the figure rested his head on the polished wooden frame of the door, which stood ajar. He was going to go mad soon, he just knew it!

Eventually, Gourry managed to step into the room without embarrassing himself. "Oi, you ate all the rest of the food, Lina!" he exclaimed, knowing it was inane, but needing something to say.

Lina gave him a sideways look. "Of course I did, Jellyfish-for-Brains! You left the room, which meant that you had finished eating!"

She waved a finger at him, and he watched it, slightly warily, as though he was expecting some form of fiery punishment to erupt from it at any second. "Mmm - oh yeah, that's what I was going to say to you, Gourry. I was thinking I'd ask Zel and Amelia if they want to leave tomorrow. That sound okay to you?"

Gourry nodded, relieved and grateful that she had inadvertently given him something else to focus on. Now he could pack, whilst Lina talked to Amelia and Zel, and they would be on the road again, with lots of things to distract him from Lina and her gorgeous, slender … no! Think of other things! Like … grass and trees and …butterflies!

When he finally got his mind under control and looked over at her again, she was talking to an immaculately dressed serving girl, who nodded, gave a brief curtsey, and hurried out of the dining hall. Lina turned back to face him with a tiny sympathetic smile on her face. She stood and walked over to him, resting her hand on his shoulder and leaning up to speak quietly in his ear as she passed. "I sent her to get the kitchen to fix you some more food to make up for what you missed. She should be back soon."

Gourry's wide, confused blue eyes followed Lina as she left the room. What was that all about, he wondered? Maybe Lina was feeling ill, that would explain her sudden, uncharacteristic niceness…

Yes, he decided. That had to be it.

-------

Hours later, in her luxurious guest room in the palace, Lina jammed her possessions viciously back into her pack. She was jumpy and frustrated, and for some reason, tense. All that compounded with the strange churning feeling she got in her stomach every time Gourry looked at her, and contrived to make her very cross indeed. A loud ripping noise announced the tearing of one of the pack's seams, and Lina swore furiously, almost flinging the poor, battered pack across the room in a temper tantrum.

Checking herself at the last minute, she instead dumped the pack back onto her bed and relieved it of its contents once more, finding her small repair kit at the bottom of the pile.

Muttering furiously to herself, she located the offending seam and proceeded to sew it back together, using four times more thread than she actually needed.

Just as she was fastening off, there was a loud knock at her door, making her jump and causing her to jab the needle deep into her right thumb. At her yelp of pain, Gourry flung open the door and looked around wildly.

"Lina? Lina! Are you okay?"

After a moment, he noticed the bead of blood welling up on Lina's thumb, and saw the needle in her other hand. Grinning sheepishly, under her icy glare, he realised what must have happened and rubbed the back of his neck in abashment. "Gee, I'm sorry, Lina."

She pouted up at him, her injured digit throbbing angrily and adding to her general feeling of crankiness. "So you should be!" She snapped at him, "Barging in here without so much as a 'by your leave'! Get out, Gourry. Leave me alone. You'll have enough time over the upcoming months while we're travelling to pester me, without you barging in here and ruining what peaceful, private time I have."

She sucked the blood sulkily off her thumb, expecting Gourry to obey her and leave. To her surprise, he stayed, leaning against the doorframe.

She looked up and narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you want?"

He cocked his head to one side. "Well, originally I came up to thank you for ordering that extra food for me, but now I want you to tell me what's wrong. You're even crankier than usual, and that's saying something."

The expression on his face was one of genuine concern, and Lina felt her heart melting. This, of course, made her even angrier, and she lashed out in the only way she could. She threw the closest thing to hand, her sewing kit, at him.

Gourry caught the projectile easily, but the look he turned on Lina this time was one of reproach. "That really could've hurt, you know. You've just been using this. Besides—" he pulled a small cylindrical container out of the kit and tipped its contents into the palm of his hand. "You left your needle box open. You don't want to lose these, do you?"

Lina's scowl deepened. "I hate it when you make more sense than me. Get out of my room."

Gourry persisted. "Just tell me what's bothering you, Lina. I'd hate for there to be something bothering you that you can't talk to me about." He moved to sit on the bed next to her, handing her sewing kit back as he sat. Reaching up, he daringly ran his fingers through the silken strands of her hair that were closest to him. "Lina?"

The petite sorceress stood up abruptly and strode to the other side of the room, wanting to get away from Gourry and his tenderness, his caring, his … touch. Blinking, she suppressed the strange fluttering feeling that rose in her at that thought – he had touched her; stroked her hair in a manner he had never done before, and it made her feel …

She spun to face him, anger acting as her defence mechanism. "What would an idiot like you know about my feelings, my problems? Anything that could possibly be big enough to worry me would go straight over your head!"

Gourry winced under the onslaught, and Lina felt a tugging at her heart, but she had gone too far to stop now – the rant was in full flow, and she could no more stop the wave of anger flooding through her than she could have turned back the ocean tides.

Her tone was quieter now, but the sting was far more deadly. A voice was raging in her head, telling her to stop this! This was Gourry she was attacking! But – she couldn't. The pent-up frustration of the past two or three years was becoming unbearable—

"Stop pretending that you know me, Gourry. Stop pretending that any of this matters to you! Stop pretending that you understand!—"

At that point, Lina stopped ranting – was forced to stop. Gourry had simply turned and walked out of the room, complying with her earlier request. She threw a discarded boot at the partially open door, displaying her opinion of his abrupt departure.

"And stay out!" She yelled after him, although the cliché made her feel distinctly foolish.

Outside Lina's door, Gourry was leaning against the wall feeling utterly confused and deflated; just a few hours ago, Lina had been exceptionally nice to him, and suddenly she had turned on him and attacked him, relentlessly. It was nothing new for her to call him an idiot, of course, but there had been venom in her voice and he knew with a sinking heart that this time she had really meant it.

What had he done? He flinched as he heard the distinctive sound of a heavy item of footwear thudding against the expensive woodwork of the door he had just departed through, followed by a yell.

The swordsman smothered a snort of laughter, despite himself – did Lina know how ridiculous she sounded, shouting clichés all of a sudden?

Too late he realised his mistake as there was a hiss of indrawn breath from inside the room, closely followed by Lina's voice again, once more tight with anger. "Gourry, are you out there? Are you _laughing_ at me?"

By the time the fireball burst out of the room and seared down the corridor, Gourry was already sprinting manically away down the stairs.

-------

"Are you sure you're holding the map the right way round, Miss Lina?"

Amelia tilted her head sideways to try and get a better look at the creased rectangle of parchment the older sorceress was musing over. Midday sun slanted through the thick forest canopy above and lit the surrounding area with a moving patchwork of green and yellow light. Everyone was suffering the effects of an early morning start – muffled yawns were occasionally heard and everyone (especially Lina) was in a foul mood.

"Of course I'm holding it the right way round, Amelia!" Lina snapped at her "Look at this road here, that's the main one that eventually leads to Atlass City, and this one here is … Oh."

Blushing furiously, so that her face clashed terribly with her hair, Lina slowly and deliberately turned the map right-way-up. A loud huff from behind her told her that Zelgadiss was both unimpressed and unsurprised by her mistake, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Gourry biting his lip hard to stop himself from making any smart-arsed comments - knowing full well that, with the mood she was in at the moment, Lina would chop him up into tiny little pieces and feed him to the fish in the next river they came across if he even so much as grinned.

"Well, I suppose that was inevitable," Zel remarked as he stalked past the two girls, deftly relieving Lina of the map as he passed her. "So the half-days journey we have taken in order to get us here – and by 'here', I mean 'back where we started' was entirely unnecessary."

Lina nodded slowly, somehow managing to look sheepish and glower at the same time . Amelia tried to jump to her defence "Well, it was very good exercise – we are now all much fitter and far readier to continue our journey in earnest after that … practice run we just had!"

Her dismayed expression as she trailed off, realising how silly she sounded, caused Gourry to lose his internal battle and start laughing helplessly. It was one of those laughs which begins small, as an intake of breath, and then escalates, until the poor blonde jellyfish was gasping for air and tears of mirth were in his eyes.

Lina was most upset.

After about half an hour, Amelia looked up and took her hands away from Gourry's chest, her recovery spell dissipating. "He's all fixed up – we should be able to continue in a few minutes, once he comes round."

She turned and glared witheringly at Lina, who was crouching on the other side of the prone blonde. "You really shouldn't go so hard on him, you know – he means well, and he couldn't help laughing. It was pretty funny, after all …"

The cross sorceress glared at the princess, and Amelia looked away quickly, muttering a grudging apology under her breath. At that moment, the unconscious swordsman between them stirred and opened his eyes, cutting off any retort Lina may have been about to utter. She immediately leaned over and addressed her prone companion. "You okay?"

Gourry propped himself up on one elbow and looked at the others. "Uh – yeah, I'm fine, thanks." He looked balefully at Lina, "You really don't need to hit me so hard, you know… I get the message."

"Eh, you were asking for it." Lina, looking uncomfortable, turned away. Gourry relocated his mournful gaze to Amelia, who smiled reassuringly. Zelgadis merely tapped his foot impatiently "Can we get going, please? We've wasted enough time already today with Lina's impromptu 'detour' – I don't want to be standing around for the _rest_ of the day arguing. At this rate, we'll be hard-pressed to reach the next inn by nightfall, and I'm blaming _her_ if it rains."

-------

Author's Note

Thank you to everyone who's been so patient with me. I know it's taken me a very, very long time to write and post this, and I'm really very sorry. I've had a lot of stuff happen in my life in the past year, and it drained all of my energy and creativity – so much so that it's taken me all year to write this one chapter of this one fic. It's nine pages in size 12 Times New Roman, and I'm not particularly happy with the length, but hopefully the number of revisions it's gone through have refined its quality somewhat. It was originally supposed to be twice as long, but I decided to leave the second half for the next chapter. As one does.

Reviews are loved, and taken to heart, as always.

**-Vethrid-**


End file.
